I Have To Do This
by TheCompositionNotebook
Summary: When the BAU receives threatening messages in the mail, they begin a new case that quickly becomes one of the most dangerous ones they've ever been involved in. What lengths will Garcia go to to protect her team?
1. What's Happening?

**I sadly do not own Criminal Minds, or the characters.**

**Okay, not only is this my first Criminal Minds fanfiction, it is also my first multi-chapter fic!  
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**And in the beginning here I have like one paragraph from the perspective of each character, tell me if you liked it/hated it in a review! :D**

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><p><em>A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.<em>

_-Nelson Mandela_

Six thirty on a Friday evening found the BAU team of Quantico, Virginia impatiently working on the mounds of paperwork that had accumulated on each of their desks over the last few weeks. The last few cases they had been on were all quite physically and emotionally demanding, and there had been little to no time between them. They had returned from the last brutal case the day before, and were relieved when they learned that there wasn't another case ready for them, and that they would all be able to get a good night's sleep.

The fact that they didn't have another case to be working on left them to tackle the stacks of paperwork they had yet to do. Garcia had suggested that morning that they all go out to a club and have some fun together for once, and the everyone had agreed quickly (and to their surprise, both Hotch and Rossi had even agreed to go without any objections). Because they had a fun night to look forward to, it made the paperwork seem to go by extra slowly, and each member of the team was irritably going through the files as quickly as they could.

The only one not working was Reid, who had finished his desk work a few hours previously, even with Morgan slipping a few of his files onto his desk every time he stepped away. Because of his eidetic memory, he was able to tell every time it happened. He would always sneak a quick glace at Morgan, but always saw him resolutely working on his files like nothing had changed. Reid would simply chuckle to himself and accept the work, knowing that Morgan's forte was definitely not in desk work, while he would to be able to get it done much quicker anyway. Which he had, he was now lounging with his feet up on his desk, on the last page of yet another incredibly thick book in a foreign language. As he finished the book, he threw it into his bag and picked up his coffee mug, intending to grab one last cup of coffee before they left for the day.

Prentiss glanced up as Reid walked by, sneaking a peek at the book in his bag. "Italian..." she muttered to herself, amazed at the genius for reading an entire book in a foreign language in less than four hours. She sighed and turned back to the piles of papers on her desk, though she found herself glancing at the clock yet again. She had been sneaking glances at it all day long, the frequency of the glances increasing as the day wore on. Reid had informed her that she was now glancing every three minutes and forty-seven seconds.

She sat up from her position hunched over her desk, stretching her neck to remove the kinks that had formed in her neck. She looked up into their team leader's office, and was unsurprised to see Hotch resolutely plowing through his own desk work. She had always admired him for his concentration at their lengthy paperwork. She sighed again and unwillingly turned back to the papers lining her desk.

Hotch was indeed plowing away at his work in his office, but he too could feel his concentration start to wane a bit. He was slowly developing a dull pain over his right eye that he always associated with paperwork, and he flexed the fingers of the hand holding the pen he had been writing with all day in an attempt to remove the sore feeling that had settled in his knuckles. His eyes fell upon a framed picture on his desk, and he picked it up and dusted it off, looking into the face of his six year old son, Jack. He thought about calling him, just to talk to him, but as he saw Dave slowly amble past his office, he decided against it. So he set down the frame and got back to his paperwork.

Rossi scanned over the members of the BAU as he walked into the break room, noticing they were all getting fed up with their work. He smirked to himself slightly, as he remembered that feeling of impatience from when he had been a younger agent. He quickly washed out his coffee cup and set it on the shelf next to the others, noticing that Reid's was still missing from the shelf and chuckling to himself. _'That boy really likes his coffee', _he thought. Ambling back out of the break room, he decided to walk around a bit to rid himself of the stiffness that had settled in his back. He hummed to himself as he strolled through the corridor past JJ's office, catching a glimpse of her going through the stacks of case files she had stacked up against the walls of her office and looking slightly frustrated at the amount of work she still had left to do. He chuckled to himself again, and headed back toward his office.

JJ was felling quite annoyed with how slowly her work was going, and was patiently waiting for seven o'clock to arrive. Hotch had told them all that they at least had to work until then, especially if they were going out together that night. So she was waiting for seven o'clock, the time that they would all go home to change into something more festive, then meet back at the BAU at eight, and head out from there. She glared at the piles of files sitting around her, then glared at the clock for not going faster. '_I wonder if Hotch would consider letting us out early?'_, he mused to herself, pondering whether she should go and ask him. She had just made up her mind to go when Garcia burst into her office.

"Hotch is actually letting us out early!" she squealed happily. "Come on Jayje! Hurry up! Let's get moving!". JJ couldn't help but laugh aloud as the Tech Analyst practically flew out her office to go collect the other team members. She closed up the file she had been working on and grabbed her coat and bag, quickly following her over-excited friend toward the Bull-pen.

Garcia tottered down the hallway as fast as she could on the six-inch heels she was wearing, heading to the Bull-pen to begin shuffling everyone out the door. She was over-the-top excited at the prospect of spending time with her teammates away from bodies and psychopaths. She considered her team her family, and was looking forward to seeing them having a good time for once. She was always so worried about them when they went off on a case, afraid they were going to get hurt or kidnapped, or worse. She always tried to make them feel better whenever she talked to them, with witty comments that made them smile. She wanted to be the happy one of the team, the one who always had a contagious smile. The one to remind them to have fun every once in a while.

Which is why she found herself so overly excited to get them moving. The sooner they left, the sooner they could forget about their jobs for once. She turned the corner to the bullpen an stumbled down the stairs toward her friends.

Morgan watched as his baby girl weaved expertly through the maze that was the Bull-pen, and noticed the ecstatic expression on her face. He smiled inwardly at her, as he loved the times when saw her wearing that expression, which were admittedly too few. "Come on guys!" she practically shouted at them, "Hotch is letting us out early! Let's get moving!". At that he couldn't help but let a large grin grace his features as he and Prentiss both stood up and closed the files they were working on, slamming them down on their desks in the process. He was Reid smirk at their relief out of the corner of his eyes.

"Oh come on, Reid!" he said jokingly, "Not all of us can finish our work with hours left in the day! Those of us with normal brains don't get the luxury of spare time!"

He saw Reid open his mouth to no doubt reply with a witty comeback, but Garcia interrupted by saying "Enough chatter! Talk about work later, just gather up your stuff so we can go!"

"Chill Baby Girl, we're moving!" he said as he and Prentiss packed up their stuff for the day (Reid had already packed ten minutes ago, much to Morgan's annoyance). Out of the corner of his eye he saw JJ stroll into the Bull-pen, closely followed by Hotch and Rossi.

"Hey Morgan," the blond drawled as she walked up to them, "You ready to get your party on?"

"JJ, we've worked together for over five years now. You should know that I'm always ready to get my party on, anytime, any place!" he declared loudly.

"Ooh, that's what I like to hear," Garcia purred flirtatiously.

"Calm down everybody, we've still got an hour until we meet back here and head off, let's not get too excited just yet," Hotch said, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. Morgan even thought he saw a corner of his mouth twitch upwards for just a moment. _'Good,'_ he thought to himself. _'Ever since he lost Haley he's been so somber, it'll do him some good to loosen up for a change.'_

"Well the sooner we get moving the sooner we'll be back and the sooner we can get our party on!" Garcia nearly shrieked, "So let's go already!" Morgan chuckled to himself as he picked up his leather jacket and joined his friends as they walked toward the elevators, Garcia chattering excitedly with the girls and Hotch in conversation with Rossi.

He quickly caught up with Reid and said, "So, you ready to pick up some pretty ladies tonight?"

Reid gave him a skeptical look.

"Come on man," Morgan said. "Remember when I taught you to use what you were familiar with? And you did that magic trick with the drawing of the UnSub we were handing out? That lady bartender seemed pretty impressed by that!"

"Yes, and she was also abducted and nearly murdered less than twelve hours later," Reid shot back.

"Details," Morgan said dismissively as they drew up to the elevators. "All I know is that it works for you, Pretty Boy!"

Reid rolled his eyes.

The elevator opened and the team prepared to step on, but were stopped by a small man stepping out and saying, "Excuse me, are you folks the BAU?"

Hotch stepped forward and said, "Yes, we are. I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, what can we do for you?" Morgan shot a quick look at Garcia, who looked less than happy at the diversion from her plans.

"I've got a special delivery here for the members of the BAU," the man stated, pulling a small stack of envelopes out of the bag he was carrying. "I've got one for Aaron Hotchner," he said, handing it to him, "David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, Dr. Spencer Reid, Jennifer Jareau, and Penelope Garcia."

Morgan felt his entire team shift and look at him.

"What about Derek Morgan?" he quickly asked the delivery man, expecting him to pull another one out of his bag.

"Nope, sorry pal. That's all I got." He stepped back onto the elevator, saying "See you folks later!" as the door closed, blocking him from view. Morgan stared after him confusedly for a few seconds before turning back to his team to see them all staring at him.

"Well go on, open your letters!" he said, curious as to what was in them, and as to why he didn't get one. He watched them busy themselves with slitting the envelopes open and pulling out the contents. He watched as they all looked down at what they pulled out, and watched them all give a collective gasp and turn towards him, a mixture of fear and concern etched on their faces.


	2. Files and Deliveries

**Okay, here's chapter two! I'll try to update faster than this in the future, but because I'm kind of writing this as I go along I don't know how fast I can get it done. But I'll try!**

**And please review! I crave your opinions! I want to know what you think, if you liked it or hated it, I want to know! So please review!  
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><p>"Oh My God," Garcia whispered, her tearful eyes flicking back and forth between the papers she was holding and Morgan's confused face.<p>

"What?" Morgan asked, now concerned as to what his teammates all received that he didn't. He glanced at all of his team, noticing almost identical expressions of worry and concern on their faces. He could even see concern under the mask of Hotch's face, and concern in Rossi's eyes despite his calm expression. "Guys, what is it?" he asked again, his nervousness growing with every passing second.

Hotch glanced up at him, then said in the voice he associated with work, "Conference room. Now."

"Wha- Hotch! What's going on?" also switching to his firm work voice. He followed his superior all the way to the conference room, demanding him to tell him what the hell was going on the whole way there, Hotch resolutely walking quickly and silently. As they reached their destination, Morgan's temper rose quickly.

"Tell me what's going on! Now!" he shouted. He couldn't stand them all looking at him like that, like they were afraid he was going to drop dead at any second. Nobody moved.

"Guys!" he yelled again.

At last JJ moved, going around to each team member and collecting their envelopes. She then quickly walked up to their evidence board,where she pulled six photos out and pinned them up in a row. Morgan could now see why they were so frightened.

The pictures were of a body, so mangled that it was hard to tell it was human. The limbs were twisted at odd angles, and it was obvious that both shoulders were dislocated badly. Burns, cuts, and bruises covered the body so completely that Morgan could barely pick out a square inch of clear skin. The body was laying in a large pool of blood, what looked like the body's entire six quarts. The six pictures were all from different angles, showing every bit of the body. It was hard to tell where the body could be, but it looked like a plain concrete room.

Morgan looked back at JJ, now understanding the seriousness of the situation, but still confused as to why they were all sending him fearful looks. She avoided eye contact with him and pinned up another row of photos underneath the first. At that he understood completely.

The second row of photos were all of _**him. **_

Him leaving the BAU, in his car, at the gym, at the coffee shop down the street. And most frightening, ones of him at his house, walking out to his car, and even one of him in his living room. He now started to feel extremely freaked out, seeing as the guy who mutilated that body knew where he lived, and was by the looks of it, stalking him.

JJ pinned up one more row of paper over top of the pictures, this time it was what looked like hand written notes. He walked slowly to the board and read the note on the far left.

_Hello Spencer, _It read. _I doubt you remember me, but I remember you. I remember the pain you left me in. The pain of losing the only one I cared about. The pain I have to deal with everyday of my life. But the tables will soon be turning. You will be the one feeling the pain, and I will be the one who inflicts it._

_I'll be seeing you soon. _

Morgan felt a slight chill of fear creep up his spine as he read the note. He looked at all the others, all the same as Reid's except for the addition of their first names. He glanced quickly back at the twelve pictures hanging on the board, then turned around to face his team, all with an apprehensive look on their faces. They were obviously nervous about how he would take take this.

"Well," he said slowly. "We've got a profile to make."

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><p>JJ walked into the Conference Room at promptly seven o'clock the next morning, her eyes sweeping over the debris littering the room. They had stayed at the BAU until nearly two in the morning, working out the shoddy profile they currently had. They had ordered takeout to be delivered there (the very confused delivery man being patted down three times before he was able to give them the food), and the cartons and utensils were still littered around the room.<p>

She began clearing up the clutter, and by the time she had finished most of the team had ambled in, yawning as they came. The last one to arrive was Morgan, looking extremely frustrated by the two police men who were assigned to tail him and were now standing guard outside the Conference room.

JJ almost laughed at the pout on his face. Almost. But she remembered why they were there in the first place, and refrained. Hotch had assigned Morgan a 24/7 detail to make sure that the new UnSub didn't try anything yet, although they were almost sure he wouldn't.

The rough profile they had made so far told them that the UnSub would want to have revenge on Morgan, and he would want him to suffer and be in suspense for a few days. Then there was the revenge aspect. They had a suspicion that the UnSub would be a friend or relative of someone who had died in one of their previous cases, and they had spent a few hours the night before looking through case files for anything that looked suspicious, but so far had found nothing.

"Alright guys," Hotch said as Morgan threw himself angrily into his usual chair around the table, "We got the DNA results back from the envelopes. There wasn't any DNA except all of ours."

"But we already knew that would happen, this guy is way to meticulous to leave any DNA," Reid said quietly. "His writing is too neat, he put the body somewhere totally unidentifiable to take the pictures of it, he's not going to slip up easily."

"Garcia, did your searches turn up anything?" Rossi asked, looking at her with an unreadable expression.

"Not yet Sir, but I'm going to try to widen the parameters, and I'll try a new search program I created last night," she replied quickly, a few of the others looking at her with respect for creating a whole new search program.

"Alright, Garcia you go get started on that," Hotch said. She quickly gathered up her stuff and departed for her office.

"JJ, you keep pulling case files for us to go through, and the rest of us will keep going through them and pulling the ones with any threats made by the friends or relatives of any victims or UnSubs."

JJ watched them turn toward the massive stacks of files left to go through, and she inwardly knew that they were all mentally groaning. She almost laughed again.

"I need coffee," Reid said, standing up and slouching out of the room. With one last look at the members of the team still in the Conference Room, she quickly followed him out into the hallway and caught up to him.

"Hey Spence," she said as she drew up to him, noting how tired he looked. "How are you?"

"Hey JJ, I'm fine, just a bit tired," he replied, giving her a small sheepish smile. "Didn't sleep well last night."

"Why not?" she asked him casually.

"Can you honestly tell me you did?" he shot back.

"No, I can't. I don't think any of us did." she agreed as they walked toward the break room. "But Reid." she said, waiting for him to look at her. "Don't forget to take a break if you need one. Even your huge brain can get tired out sometimes."

He gave her another sheepish smile. " I know, JJ."

She gave him a reassuring smile and left him to get his coffee, walking toward the file room for another long few hours of pulling files.

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><p>JJ walked into the Conference room with a large stack of files for what must have been the twentieth time that day. "Got some more for you guys!"<p>

"How many cases are there?" Morgan said exasperatedly.

"Relax, this is the last of them," JJ replied. "I just need to go and make sure that I didn't miss any and I'll be back to help you look through them."

"Thanks JJ," Hotch told her, not even looking up from the file he was reading. She turned to walk out of the door and back to the file room, but nearly crashed into a small man who had just entered the Conference room.

"Sorry, I didn't see you," she quickly apologized. She felt her team look up behind her.

"It's quite alright ma'am," the stranger replied. JJ took another look at him, noticing that he was vaguely familiar. She looked back at her team and saw that Reid's face had paled.

"When I said I'd be seeing you folks later, I didn't mean so soon," the small man said jovially.

JJ suddenly knew who the man was. It was the delivery man from yesterday. And he was pulling another stack of envelopes out of his bag.


	3. JJ's Panic

**Alright, I'm aware that this chapter is kinda short (alright, really short), but it's been while since I have updated, so I just wanted to update with something! Ill update again sooner, hopefully this time with a longer chapter.**

**Oh, and another reason why I haven't updated yet is because I feel like people don't really like this story a lot. So if you do like it and want faster updates, review or PM me, or something just so I know someone appreciates it! :) Thanks!  
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><p>JJ stared at the short man standing in front of her. He had no idea that he was bringing them something so awful. Bringing the frightening threat to them. To Morgan. He hadn't picked up on how tense they were at all. He looked downright jovial.<p>

"I'll take them," Hotch said immediately, striding quickly over to the deliverer. He handed over the envelopes with yet another happy grin. It almost made JJ want to smack him.

"Well this time when I say 'See you folks later', I mean later," he said, laughing as Hotch put the stack of letters into his pocket. "Wouldn't it just be something if I was back again tomorrow?" he asked jokingly.

"Yeah, that would be something alright," Morgan muttered darkly. The delivery man gave a small wave and stepped back out into the hall.

JJ stared after him. Behind her, she heard Hotch going into full team leader mode. She heard him tell Morgan to call Garcia and get her to join them, heard him tell Reid and Prentiss to shuffle the pictures on the board around to make room for whatever they were sent this time. And she heard him tell Rossi to make sure that the police knew to warn them if that delivery man showed up again.

_What's next? _She thought. _More bodies, more threats against Morgan?_

"This guy is sick," she muttered quietly, as she went and sat next to Morgan at the round table.

"I know Baby Girl," he was saying, "But there's been another...delivery. And we need you here to open yours. Alright, see you in thirty seconds." He hung up his phone and slammed it angrily onto the table.

By this time Rossi was sitting back down from informing the police about the delivery man, and Prentiss and Reid had finished shifting the pictures. The six agents sat staring around at one another for 15 seconds that felt more like 15 hours before Garcia came bursting in with an extremely panicked look on her face.

"More letters?" she asked anxiously.

Hotch responded by pulling out the new stack of letters. Garcia paled visibly and let out a sort of soft whimper, sitting down on Morgan's other side next to Reid.

"Alright," Hotch said quietly. "Emily, Dave, Spencer, Penelope, myself," he read out, handing each agent their letter and putting his own on the table in front of him. He blinked at the last envelope in his hands a few times, then said "Derek."

JJ felt a wave of panic and fear spread through her whole body. If this guy was targeting her too, there was a chance he'd have pictures of her. And if he had pictures of her there was a good chance that Will and Henry would be in them with her.

"Open them. Now," she demanded, panic constricting her voice.

Hotch got his open first, and he took one look at the contents and dropped them on the table. He immediately reached for his phone. JJ took the opportunity to pick up the papers with shaking fingers. What she saw made another wave of panic run through her.

On top was a picture of another body, somehow even more mutilated than the first. Along with the hundreds of cuts, bruises, and burns, there were multiple stab wounds and gun shots making the body even bloodier than the first. JJ was thankful that she had eaten a small salad for lunch, because anything greasier would probably have come back up.

She shuffled the contents of the envelope to look at the second picture. It was of her. Her and Will playing with Henry at the park a few blocks away from their house. She was glad she was sitting down, because if she was standing she very well may have collapsed. She heard Hotch on the phone behind her, ordering a protective detail for her and her family.

JJ suddenly realized how Hotch had been feeling during the whole Foyet ordeal. How he felt when Foyet went after his family. It was how she was feeling now.

She shuffled the contents again and looked at the last paper, another handwritten note from the UnSub.

_Feeling frightened yet, Agents?_

She took a deep breath and looked up, noticing that they were all staring at her. She gave herself a mental shake, and stood up slowly on her shaky legs. She walked to the evidence board and pinned up the contents of his letter, and collected the contents of the others and pinned them up as well. She felt a pang of fear every time she pinned up a photo that contained Will or Henry.

By the time she sat back down, Hotch had sat back down. "I've ordered protective details for all of us and our families. Now that two of our agents have been threatened, it's safe to assume the UnSub is targeting all of us."

"So that widens our search," Morgan said. "It doesn't have to be a case where I had a significant impact, it could be any of us."

JJ saw Garcia wipe a tear from her face as she stood up. "I'm going to go keep searching," she said as she left for her computers.

"Alright. Reid, JJ, and I will keep looking through the cases. Morgan, Prentiss, and Rossi, you start working on creating a profile. Now that we know this guy is targeting the team, it just became personal for all of us. So let's catch this son-of-a-bitch before he can touch any of us," Hotch said with a determined look on his face.

JJ stood up again and excused herself to the break room for another cup of coffee. She had a feeling it was going to be another long night.


	4. Profiles and Secrets

**So, here's chapter four! I think I like how it came out, I really do. As always I shall ask for your reviews! And I extend a huge thank you to those who did review! They all get cyber-hugs! **

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><p>Reid walked into the BAU at 7 am, already sipping his third coffee of the day. The fact that he had gotten about nine hours of sleep for the past two days was fueling his caffeine addiction to new heights.<p>

He walked through the Bullpen and straight to the Conference room, as it had become a sort of base of action for them. He was the first one to arrive there, although he was sure that Hotch and JJ were already in their offices. He took the opportunity to run through the profile that they had updated yesterday.

The UnSub was most likely a male from the ages of 25-50, and an average looking guy. Someone who would have been very dependent on the person that they had lost in one of their cases, and completely devastated by the loss. He would have a job in which he was regularly overshadowed, an unimportant and undervalued member. He would also be extremely antisocial.

Their victimology was basically nothing, as the bodies were so mangled that they couldn't tell much about the person it once was. They also had no clue where the bodies where, so getting any DNA for ID was basically out of the question. The best they could do was that the first victim was a younger brunette female, and the second a middle aged blond man.

Reid looked back at the evidence board and felt a fresh surge of anger at this UnSub. What was he playing at, threatening his team? Why did he have such a vendetta against them? Reid sat glaring at the board as the others walked in.

"Whoa, Pretty Boy. That's a pretty fierce glare you have going there," Morgan said, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"This guy is threatening us, stalking us!" Reid stated loudly. "Like Hotch said last night, this became personal for all of us. I want to catch him before he hurts anyone else."

"I know man, we all do," Morgan agreed quietly.

"Then let's get to work so we can catch him," Hotch said, the look of determination returning to his face.

"Alright," JJ said. "We've now looked through every case file we have. We didn't find any significant threats made to us by a family member or friend of an UnSub, or even a victim."

"Could that mean that we've never even met the guy before?" Prentiss asked the room at large.

"Theoretically, yes. We don't have to have ever met them," Rossi agreed. "If it's a friend or family member of a victim, we most likely have, but if it's someone related to an UnSub...there's a good chance that we haven't met them."

"So someone we have never met before is stalking us, and killing people to threaten us. That's a comforting thought," Morgan said bitterly.

"Well, we don't know for sure that we've never met them," Prentiss reminded him. "Although I have to admit, it seems more probable that the UnSub is linked to a previous UnSub, rather than a victim," she admitted.

"Speaking statistically, it would be more probable," Reid spoke up. "The victims friends or family would usually direct their anger towards the UnSub rather than the police. But the friends or family of an UnSub would target the people that brought them down. Us."

"So it was an UnSub who was killed and left behind a vengeful creep," Morgan stated scathingly.

"Morgan, call Garcia and have her compile a list of cases where the UnSub was killed," Hotch instructed. "The rest of us will continue working as yesterday. Reid, JJ, and I working on files, Rossi, Prentiss, and Morgan on profile and victimology."

Reid walked over and picked up a stack of files from the large stack. He took a large swig of coffee as he sat back down, ready for another day of sorting through files if it meant catching this UnSub.

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><p>After hours of working on case files, Reid's overworked brain was swimming with information. Every case file he read sparked his eidetic memory, and he would vividly remember the victims, the UnSubs, and the profiles. All the memories were starting to cloud his mind slightly, so he decided to take a break, and refill his coffee cup.<p>

As he stood up he mumbled something about a break and five minutes, and shuffled off toward the break room. After getting fresh coffee (and a cookie he found in a tin on the counter), he sighed and started shuffling back to the Conference room. But before he got there, he saw something that stopped him in his tracks.

A familiar small man wearing a delivery man's uniform. Being led away from the Conference room by two uniformed police men. A man that he had seen three to many times in the past three days now. Reid felt the remainder of the cookie he was holding slide through his fingers toward the floor, and only barely maintained a grip on his coffee cup. He watched the small, smiling man be led away, and as soon as he was out of sight, Reid sprinted into the Conference room.

The look on his friends faces as he ran in was enough. He didn't need to see the six manila envelopes on the table between them. And he didn't need to see the labels on the envelopes to know he hadn't gotten one.

As he sat down and shakily placed his coffee next to his half finished files, he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Go on," he insisted. "Let's not dramatize the moment by dragging it out like this." He tried to meld his expression into one of calmness. It wasn't working.

Each member of the team reached out and grabbed their corresponding envelope, and Reid resigned himself to looking over Rossi's shoulder, who was seated next to him.

Rossi slitted the envelope, and pulled out the usual items, along with something small and wrapped in bubble wrap.

As usual, the first picture picture was of the body. A body as mangled as the last two, this time with the addition of the removal of all twenty fingers and toes, which were laid out next to the body. Reid willed his nausea back as Rossi flipped to the next picture.

It was of him exiting his favorite coffee shop, coffee in hand. His heart skipped a beat. By seeing the picture, it was real that he was being targeted. Rossi then pulled the hand-written note to the front.

_Hello Dave._

_It seems that you haven't been taking my threats as seriously as I'd like. So I've kicked it up a notch. Just to let you know, I've looked into all of your pasts, and I know your darkest secrets. _

_ -Your UnSub_

_P.S. Would you mind giving my little 'gift' to Dr. Reid? I know he's been wanting it for a very long time._

Having finished reading far quicker than Rossi, his eyes immediately skipped to the bubble-wrapped item sitting on the table. It couldn't be...? He could feel his breathing start to speed up.

After what felt like an eternity, Rossi reached for the small package. Reid's whole body tensed as he watched the bubble wrap fall away. Once it was gone, he could see that Rossi was holding a small vial. Of a clear liquid. Labeled '**Dilaudid'. **

"No," he muttered, standing up from the table so quickly that his chair went flying behind him. "No," he muttered again, backing away from the offending liquid. He could feel his heart beating so fast it felt like it was having a seizure, and his breathing starting to grow irregular. His entire team was looking at him, small vials in their hands, and sadness in their eyes. All with the exception of Rossi, who simply looked confused.

"Bathroom," he managed to choke out, and sprinted out of the room, running down the hallway and flying into the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror, hair disheveled, eyes wide, and he was nearly hyperventilating. He slid down the wall to sit on the floor, attempting to force the memories that had sprung back up in his brain to go to the back of his mind. Him tied to a chair in a poorly lit shack. The pain, the guilt, the shots of drugs he had received. It had been nearly 3 years since he had touched the stuff, and he still afraid to touch drugs of any kind. Hadn't he proved that when he had contracted anthrax and refused pain medication?

He sat there, trying to calm himself down, angry at himself that he got so upset by it, when he heard a knock at the door and a calm voice saying, "Reid? Are you in there?"


	5. Comfort and Sadness

**So, I know this chapter isn't the best quality, but I wanted to update today because the next chance I get to update would probably be over the weekend, and thats way too long to make you guys wait! :) As such, I'm sorry for any typos. :/**

**As always, I ask for reviews! Come on guys, I know you can do it! Review, review, review!**

**ALSO, check out my friend Emmy73CriminalMinds story 'I'm Only Human' because its Totally Awesome! :) Thanks guys!**

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><p>Rossi stared after Reid as he ran out of the room, unbelievably confused at his actions. He looked around at his team, and he saw pain and sadness in all their faces. Even Hotch looked visibly upset.<p>

"What's going on?" he asked quietly. JJ looked like she was about to cry.

Finally Hotch spoke up, but it didn't do anything to answer his questions. He simply said "It's Reid's decision to tell you. Go ask him."

Rossi slowly stood up, taking in their upset expressions one last time before turning and walking out towards the bathroom, questions buzzing in his head the entire time. Once he reached his destination, he softly knocked on the door and asked "Reid? Are you in there?"

Getting no reply he slowly pushed open the door, only to find his youngest team member sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall. He had to admit that it pulled at his heartstrings a little bit.

He walked over and crouched down next to the younger man, placing a fatherly hand on his shoulder. "Reid, what's up?" he asked gently.

Reid took a great shaky breath and began to speak. "A few years ago, we were on a case where the UnSub put videos of the murders he committed online. He would murder because people committed sins like gluttony or adultery. We thought we had three UnSubs. The latest murder was of a young woman torn apart by vicious dogs. JJ and I went to investigate a claim from a person named Tobias Hankel about the dogs to see if we could get a lead."

Rossi noticed that Reid shuddered slightly when saying the name.

"While we were there I realized that he was an UnSub. He ran for it, and JJ and I followed him toward the barn. I told her to split up, I'd go behind the barn, she'd go in front. She was reluctant, but I insisted. While I was out back I heard him in the corn field and I called for JJ but she didn't hear me. Instead, I heard her scream and I heard gunfire."

Reid looked up at him, but his expression must not have been the mask of calm that he usually wore, because he quickly added, "JJ met the vicious dogs. None of them lived to see another day." Reid slowly dropped his gaze back down to his feet. "But when I heard her scream I called for her again, and began to run back towards her. Next thing I know, somethings slammed into my head and I'm lying on the ground, the UnSub standing over me. It was then that I realized that we didn't have three UnSubs like we thought, only one with Dissociative Identity Disorder."

Rossi felt something like a rock slip into his stomach. After all his years in the FBI, he knew that UnSubs with DID were the worst to deal with.

"There was Tobias, the weaker one, Charles Hankel, his father, whom he killed, and Raphael, an arc-angel. And...one of the personalities kidnapped me. Kept me in a shack for two days."

Rossi could see how hard this was for the young genius, so he sat down next to him and put a comforting arm around his shoulders, slightly surprising even himself with the kind act. "Go on," he told the distraught man.

"In the span of those two days, I was tortured, forced to choose who the Raphael personality killed next, and I nearly died. If the Tobias personality hadn't gained control and performed CPR, I would have. But...the Tobias personality also...also drugged me with Dilaudid. Which led to an...addiction."

Rossi looked over at the young man his arm was around, seeing the incredible expression of pain, anger, shame, and guilt. It was almost as if someone was trying to play his heartstrings like a guitar now.

"Reid. I know you've been told this a hundred times before, but I can tell you don't believe it. But you need to believe. It's not your fault," he said, emphasizing every word. "You didn't ask this Tobias to drug you, did you?"

"No, but-"

"Then it's not your fault," Rossi said firmly, cutting off the younger man.

"But he made me choose who he killed next!" Reid burst out. "And I chose one to save out of four families! And he left the monitors on so I had to watch him kill one of the others!"

"Reid. Look at me," Rossi said, lifting the young man's chin so that he was looking right into his pain filled eyes. "It's. Not. Your. Fault. You have to believe that or it's going to haunt you for the rest of your life!" He watched as the genius' face softened a bit, but he could still see the shame and guilt present on his features.

"Come on Reid, we need to cheer you up. Let's go."

"What, where are we going?" Reid asked confusedly.

"The Science Museum." Rossi replied, helping the genius to his feet. It almost seemed like he left his bad feelings on the ground as he stood.

"Really?" the younger man asked excitedly.

"Yes, really. And I'll even listen to you ramble about how everything in that museum works," Rossi said tiredly, giving an inward groan, feeling oddly like a father.

"Wow," Reid said, a grin starting to appear on his face.

"I just need to drop by and tell Hotch that we're leaving. You wait here," he hold the over-excited genius as they reached the Bullpen.

"Okay, but don't take too long!" Reid called after him as he strolled down the hall, thinking about what he just got himself into.

"Hotch," he said stepping into the Conference room, "I'm taking the kid to the Science Museum." At his words everyone sitting in that room got small grins on their faces, knowing that Reid would be back to normal before long, and Rossi had just doomed himself.

"Good luck," Hotch replied, amusement in his eyes.

"Yeah, I have a feeling I'll need it," he said, turning to step back into the hallway.

"Oh, you will!" Morgan called after him. He walked down the hall, back towards the Bullpen, mentally preparing himself for a few very long hours.

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><p>Nearly twenty four hours later put Rossi in almost the exact same position he had been in the day before. Confused, tired, and fed up with working on files all day long. Reid, thankfully, had seemed much more himself all day. Which was good, because he was sure that the day would have gone much worse if he hadn't been significantly cheered up. And that was saying something.<p>

This UnSub was very knowledgeable about all of them, and Rossi had to admit that it frightened him a little. And this person obviously had no qualms about killing people.

"What kind of psychopathic freak would do this?" he asked aloud.

"Psychopathic freak?" a nervous voice asked from behind him.

All six agents turned quickly to see the little delivery man standing in the doorway again, flanked by two uniformed officers. He seemed to have lost his jovial attitude, no doubt due to the vigorous questioning he underwent the day before, which resulted in no new information at all.

"Dammit," he heard Morgan swear from next to him. He saw Morgan pull out his phone and dial Garcia's number.

"I'm sorry to be bringing this, now that I know what it is," the man said, handing six more envelopes over to Hotch.

"Thank you," Hotch ironically replied.

Just seconds after the delivery man was led away, Garcia burst in, tears already forming in her eyes. She sat down next to JJ.

"Alright guys. Morgan, JJ, myself, Reid, Prentiss," Hotch broke off there. He finally said "Garcia."

Rossi felt anger flare up inside him. How dare this UnSub target him? He sat calmly as the envelopes were opened, worried glances sent his way, and the contents were pinned up on the board. He was determined not to show his mounting fear.

He looked over at the board once everything was pinned up, his eyes skipping over the awful body, and even the picture of himself driving his car into his driveway. He looked immediately to the notes pinned up next to them.

_Emily,_

_I told you I know all about all of you. Even your biggest regrets. Mind passing this picture on to your friend Dave for me? He'll appreciate it. _

_ -UnSub_

Rossi's eyes then skipped to the third row of pictures that he previously overlooked in his haste to read the notes. There was no mistaking what it was of. A girl, whom he had overlooked, someone who just tried to help. And he'd brushed her off. She'd been killed because he didn't take the time to listen to what she had to say. He had the chance to prevent her death, but didn't act on it.

"Zoe..."

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><p><strong>Seriously, do you see that little button marked 'review' down there? Click on it! It wants you to. And so do I. So click away!<strong>


	6. Flower Petals

**Okay, I'm so sorry for making you guys wait so long for this chapter! I've been super busy the last few days! And I was also hit by a sudden bout of writer's block...but only for this particular chapter. :/**

**It was kind of tough to get this all down, and I'm not sure how much I like this chapter, really. But, I shall ask for your reviews! Please do review, I beg of you! :) And thank you to all of you who did review last chapter, you guys are Totally Awesome!**

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><p>Emily sighed as she sat down at her desk in the Bullpen, grateful to be out of the Conference room for once. Her compartmentalizing skills were being put into overdrive lately, and with the lack of sleep from the past four days, she was very pleased to be away from the pictures and notes, if only for a few short minutes.<p>

She could tell that this case was putting an immense amount of strain on all of them, though the four of them who had gotten the threats so far were easily the most stressed. Although she did notice that whenever Hotch's eyes landed on the bottles of Dilaudid or the pictures of the young woman called Zoe, his eyes would hold a strange expression, only for a fraction of a second. An expression she very seldom saw her boss wear. Fear. And that scared her.

This UnSub proved over and over that he knew everything about them, and taunted them with the fact that they knew virtually nothing about him. He knew about Reid's addiction, and about Rossi's guilt over the death of Zoe, and Emily could tell that both men were extremely upset about the UnSub holding their guilt and shame over their heads. And in return, the only thing they knew about the UnSub was that he knew almost everything there was to know about them, and that he had so far killed four people.

Emily gave herself a quick mental shake, trying to clear up her thought process a little. Or maybe a lot. She didn't want to admit it, but this UnSub had messed with her head a bit. She sat lost in thought for another few minutes, brooding over everything, before heaving another sigh and reluctantly walking back into the Conference room, plopping herself down in the seat she occupied right in front of the evidence board.

Her primary job right now was to look at the victims and attempt to form a pattern in them. All that she'd noticed was that the cuts on each victim seemingly came from the same blade, and the bruises all had a similar pattern to them, implying that the same weapon was used to make them. But she was nowhere near able to discover what blade made the cuts, and what the object that made those bruises what.

She looked through the pictures, the six different angles for each body, trying to distinguish something of importance from everything. She stared at the pictures, seeing the same things on each of the bodies that she had already seen a thousand times before. The ligature marks on the wrists and ankles, the missing fingernails, the nasty cuts all over the faces that made them unrecognizable, the small cuts on the victims necks. Or, hang on...'_Is that really a cut?'_ she thought to herself.

She had dismissed it as a cut in the beginning, due to the sheer amount of cuts on the bodies, but now taking a better look at it...it looked more like...

"Guys!" she called out. "I think I've got something!" Her team members all turned an interested, and slightly hopeful, eye on her.

"Look here, on these closer shots of the victims heads," she said. "This mark right here, I originally dismissed it as just another cut, but it's not a cut, it's a-"

"Puncture mark!" Reid finished for her. "So that must be how he controls his victims, he drugs them!" Emily could feel the atmosphere in the room change suddenly. They had something now. They were making progress.

"But the UnSub wanted us to know that he drugs them," Rossi said smartly. "He's too controlled, too perfect to just accidentally include a picture of the victims that shows off the mark."

"But drugging the victim could mean that the UnSub isn't physically capable of controlling the victims," Morgan put in. "It could mean that he's built more like Pretty Boy over there than myself!"

Prentiss watched Reid roll his eyes.

"So he drugs the victims to control them, and seems to want us to know this," Hotch said calmly, smartly skipping past Morgans comment on Reid. "Where there any other connections or similarities?" he asked Prentiss.

"No," she replied darkly. "As far as I can tell, these victims were chosen at random."

"Well, it's not the victims who are important to the UnSub. It's us," JJ said, momentarily joining in the profiling. For about a half of a second, Emily noticed that everyone seemed to pause and acknowledge what JJ had just said as being true, before Rossi broke the silence.

"It's four thirty," he said quietly.

Emily stared at him.

"Every letter we've gotten has been delivered between four-thirty and six-thirty," he elaborated. "If our UnSub sticks to his pattern, we should be in for another 'special delivery' again soon."

She watched him glance quickly at the board, and noticed an unfamiliar expression in his eyes as well, though she interpreted his eyes to hold guilt. Emily quickly turned back toward the evidence board so that she didn't have to stare the awkward silence in the face, or look at Rossi's guilty eyes.

If the UnSub stuck to his pattern, another one of them would have more reason to fear this case. She thought about who was left yet to be threatened. Herself, Hotch, and Garcia. '_Garcia' _she thought. _'It can't happen to Garcia, there's no reason anyone should want to threaten her. And Hotch. He's got Jack to worry about, and he's just lost Haley. He doesn't need this right now.'_

She almost shocked herself with the decision she came to. She hoped that she was the one targeted this time. Her. She didn't have a family, and she was definitely strong enough to take this.

Emily sat dwelling on her resolution, until her silent musing was interrupted by Morgan slamming his hand into the wall. She'd been so deep in thought that she hadn't realized that Rossi had been right. She hadn't noticed the delivery man step into the room, as usual, flanked by two police men. His expression was terrified, no doubt due to the reaction that Morgan had as he walked through the door.

Emily had a sudden feeling of strong Deja Vu. Hotch taking the letters and setting them in the middle of the table, Morgan angrily calling Garcia, the delivery man being led away, the intense silence that followed as they waited for Garcia to join them.

Once Garcia had arrived, Emily permitted herself to look at the envelopes in the middle of the table, inwardly praying that Hotch and Garcia had both gotten them.

They had.

Emily was hit with a strange wave of emotions, from relief, to fear and panic. She wasn't quite sure whether she was happy about the fact that she was targeted or not.

As she watched her teammates slit open the envelopes, she was hit with a sudden realization. The last two letters received had threats about the recipients pasts in them. She started to panic slightly, before remembering that she had worked for the CIA and that it would be next to impossible for this creep to have found out anything about her past, especially with Doyle. She had been in a whole different continent then, there was no way anything connected to that would be in those offending envelopes.

She resigned herself to watching Reid open his envelope, as she knew that he would be done with his first. She watched his eyes open wide at the first picture, which she was able to guess was of the body. And again, if the UnSub stuck to his pattern, then this body would be the worst yet.

As Reid flipped to the second picture, she watched fear seep into his expression as he gave her a worried glance. _'That must be the picture of me,' _she thought.

As he flipped to the note and read it through, his eyebrows became knitted in confusion. In just a few seconds, he reached back for the envelope and pulled out a small purple object. A flower petal. Emily recognized it immediately. It was the petal of a Lilac Freesia. The exact same plants she had tended while she was undercover with Ian Doyle.

Now the panic that had only slowly been consuming her hit her like a bus. She didn't understand how this was possible. She had worked with the CIA. How did this creep find out about it? She sat having a silent panic attack as the rest of the team finished looking through their envelopes and fishing out the flower petals.

Prentiss was well aware that the team were all staring at her. She was also aware of the fact that she had most likely gone very pale, and was shaking like mad, her breath hitching nearly every time she inhaled. She vaguely thought that she should attempt to calm herself down and explain why she was so freaked out before her team started having a panic attack too.

She attempted to begin to talk, but her mouth wouldn't listen to her brain and explain anything. She watched lamely as JJ posted the newest threats up on the evidence board in front of her. The pictures of the body, with hands and feet removed and sitting next to the body, along with the victims hair, which seemed to have been painfully yanked out, leaving nothing but a bloody scalp. She desperately wanted to lost her lunch, but managed to keep herself under control.

Then the pictures of her going about her everyday activities, at home, at the BAU. She felt a slight wave of anger add to her other feelings. That was nothing compared to the anger she felt after reading the included note, however.

_Aaron, _

_I bet you didn't know it, but your favorite female profiler's flower is the Lilac Freesia. It brings back all sorts of good memories for her. Mind giving her this petal? I'm very sure that she'll just love it -UnSub_

Suddenly, she wasn't afraid at all. Only angry. Extremely angry. It was like she needed to catch him now, to see him suffer. As she turned back to her team, she made a promise to herself that she would catch him. No one got to prod that deeply into the past of Emily Prentiss and get away with it.

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><p><strong>So, reviews anyone? It would be greatly appreciated! That little button down there is still calling out for you! <strong>


	7. Frustration and Diamonds

**For some reason, I found it extremely hard to write a chapter completely from Hotch's POV. Not sure why. But, I will ask for your reviews! Do you think I did a good job with it? I'd love to know! **

**I didn't have a lot of time to edit this chapter, so I'm sorry for any typos you may come across. Entirely my fault. **

**One more plea for reviews...please?**

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><p>Hotch sat alone in his office, staring at the framed picture of Haley and Jack that he kept on his desk. He missed her. God, he missed her. And he was feeling particularly upset about having to leave Jack to come to the BAU every morning, especially since they had started their current case.<p>

He sat back in his chair, trying not to think about the feeling of failure that had lodged itself in his brain. Five days they had been working on this case now, and they had almost nothing. Nothing but pictures and threats. This was by far the hardest case he had been on in a very long time. In all the cases he'd been team leader for, they'd at least had something to go on. Some evidence, had the body, identified the victim, knew the identity of the UnSub, something. Now, nothing. And it was driving him mad.

He restlessly sat forward in his chair again, for about the hundredth time that day. The feeling of restlessness also had lodged itself in him, and got worse every day, as each one of his agents was targeted.

He knew that he would soon be targeted as well, as the UnSub was very unlikely to stop before he got the threats. And Hotch started thinking about the impact it would have on Jack. He'd already been forced into protective custody, lost his mother, and come very close to being murdered by a homicidal psychopath. All before his sixth birthday. Jack didn't need anything else to go wrong for him. Hotch's feeling of failure increased as he thought about how awful a father he'd been.

He sat stiffly at his desk, his mind cluttered and thinking so fast that he thought he must have somehow gotten a part of his brain switched with Reid's. As his brain whizzed away, he heard the door to his office open and looked around to see Dave enter and sit in the chair opposite him.

"I know what you're thinking Aaron," he said bluntly. "You feel like a failure because you can't do anything, towards both your team, and as soon as it's threatened, your family. And you feel helpless because you can't do anything about it, too."

"What happened to the rule of 'no inter-team profiling'?" Hotch asked, halfway between upset and amused.

"I'm not profiling my team member. I'm profiling my friend," he replied wisely. "And I know from experience that you're feeling like that."

Hotch stared over at the wiser man for a moment before asking, "What do I do, Dave?"

"Exactly what you are doing. You've got the best BAU team I've ever seen working on this case. And if anyone would solve this case, it would be your team."

"You're just saying that because you're on my team," Hotch said quietly.

"Yeah, pretty much. Now come on, let's get back in there and crack this case," Rossi replied with a faint smile lingering on his lips, had outstretched.

Hotch took his hand and received the help up, feeling some of the determination he had lost in the past few days return as they walked down the hall toward the Conference room.

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><p>By four thirty that day, the team had pretty much stopped what they were doing with the prospect of another delivery over their heads. Garcia had even abandoned her monitors to come down and wait with them. Hotch didn't blame her.<p>

They all sat nervously around the table, occasionally looking at one another, mostly just staring at their hands or at the evidence board. Hotch thought about telling them all that they should be working, or could be using this time to profile, but he himself didn't think that he could start working at that moment.

And finally, after nearly an hour of waiting, they were rewarded for their patience. With six more letters. Morgan banged his hand against the wall again, and Hotch felt the familiar feeling of dread and apprehension as he took the letters from the delivery man. He made eye contact with Garcia, and immediately wished he hadn't. Her expression just made him feel much worse.

"Alright guys. Here we go again. Morgan, JJ, Reid, Rossi, Prentiss,...Garcia," he said in an even tone, handing each person their letter. He wasn't sure how to feel at the moment either, scared for what would be in the envelope? Relieved that Garcia hadn't gotten one? He wasn't sure how she would take being threatened. But it did feel very strange to not hold an envelope in his hands, to watch the other open theirs.

He walked over to stand behind Reid, knowing that he would be the one to get through the contents the fastest. The body in the first picture was the worst mutilated yet, and probably the most disgusting one he had ever seen in his career. The body seemed almost skinned, with great chunks of flesh missing from the muscles, and the organs spread out over the ground. He didn't usually feel nauseous at any crime scenes, in fact he hadn't felt sick at any of the previous pictures. But he was having to fight with his stomach at that moment. He saw JJ sprint out of the room, hand over her mouth. He didn't blame her, he almost wanted to join her.

The second picture, one of him and Jack riding in his car. Exactly what he hoped wouldn't be included, even though he knew it would. The anger that flooded through him at that moment was enough for him to lose control, and kick the nearest object, which happened to be the unused chair sitting next to Reid. It flew across the room, startling the others.

The next item Reid moved to the front of the pile, was the note as usual.

_Spencer,_

_Having fun yet? I'm sure that you are. I've given you quite enough to play with by now. About the 'toy' in this envelope, mind giving it to Agent Hotchner? He lost it a while ago, you see. He'll be overjoyed to get it back. _

_ -UnSub_

He lost it a while ago...overjoyed to get it back...what was this creep talking about? Hotch was aware of the fact that Reid had finished reading much before him, but had held it up so that he could read the note. He saw that Reid was watching him, anxiously waiting for him to finish. As soon as he had, Reid grabbed for the envelope and pulled out a thin purple bracelet. With small diamonds in seemingly random places on it.

"No!" Hotch shouted, grabbing the bracelet from the genius. How was this possible?

Hotch ran over to each of his agents, grabbing a nearly identical bracelet from each, ripping JJ's out of the envelope she had left it in. He used his trembling fingers to stack them on top of each other so that the stones were revealed to be parts of letters, spelling out... **Haley. **

"How did this** bastard** get her bracelets?" Hotch said, meaning to shout it, but it instead came out as a sort of harsh growl. He looked wildly around at all the bewildered faces of his teammates.

"You're sure those belonged to her?" Morgan asked gently.

"Yes, I'm sure. I bought them for her just after we were married. They were custom made." Hotch replied forcefully. "No one else had anything even remotely like it!" He felt like he was having a heart attack, his heart beating so fast it hurt. He was shaking with suppressed rage.

His entire team looked at him with the sadness shown clearly on their faces, even Rossi's mask of emotions was gone. He looked very visibly upset.

"I'm gonna find this bastard. I'm going to find him, and he's not going to stand a chance," Hotch said, the anger, sadness, and determination evident in his voice. He could see the others take his words seriously, all immediately beginning to work with a feverish pace. He was glad to call them his team, and wanted to stay and help them, but instead walked out of the BAU. He was going to spend the night with his son, psychopathic serial killer after him or not.

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	8. Realization

**So, here is chapter eight! Finally! I'm sorry it took so long, I was hit with a slight bout of writer's block. But it's extra long, just to make up for that! **

**As always, please review, tell me what you think of the new development in the story! I would love to hear all of your thoughts on this matter! :)**

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><p>Sitting in the small room filled with brightly lit monitors, Garcia couldn't help but worry. Worry about her team. About how they were, emotionally. They were profilers, they knew how to hide their emotions. Hotch and Rossi never showed any at all, and Morgan was too tough to admit that he did. Prentiss 'compartmentalized' and very rarely showed how she was feeling. The exceptions on her team were JJ and Reid, they were more open to showing emotions, but they didn't show it very often. None of them showed emotion normally.<p>

And she couldn't help but feel afraid for them either. This UnSub, this creep, targeting her family like this was unacceptable! And Garcia knew that soon it would be her, in six hours she'd know what that freak could dig up on her. And while she loathed this UnSub with every fiber of her being, she had to feel a slight bit of respect. They were obviously very technology oriented to know that much about them, and she reluctantly admitted that they were pretty good.

Garcia suddenly realized, with all of the bad feelings she was having, the fear, the anger, none of them were directed towards herself. She wasn't afraid of what could be dug up about her. She wasn't worried about being stalked. She wasn't scared about getting the threats towards herself. No bad feelings for herself.

This didn't really faze her at all though, she knew that she could take care of herself if she had to. She was a lot stronger than her team gave her credit for. She sat in thought for a while longer, her thoughts all over the place, until a knock on her door distracted her from her musing.

"Hey Baby Girl," Morgan said as he stepped into her small office.

"What?" she asked quickly. "Did something happen?"

"No, nothing happened," he replied quickly. "I just thought you might like some company."

Garcia quickly let out the breath that he hadn't even realized that she had been holding in, and attempting to control the speed of her heartbeat back to normal. "Well, you need to come and visit more often, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" she scolded him. "In the middle of the worst case we've faced in years, you suddenly show up in my office, scaring the crap out of me."

"Alright, alright," Morgan said quickly. "Calm down now, let's just sit down," he said, motioning for her to sit back in her office chair. She reluctantly sat, huffing slightly.

"Do you have any new leads?" she asked quietly, hoping against hope that he had some good news.

"No. This guy is like a ghost. No return address from anything he sent, no fingerprints, no giveaways at all. Even in the pictures, it just looks like a solid cement room, probably in a basement or an abandoned warehouse or some place else impossible to trace."

"And because about one fourth of all the cases we accept end in the UnSub's death, that leaves us with about forty cases to look at, though when I ran them all through the system, nothing popped up," Garcia added. She caught his gaze, and they sat for a few moments just staring at each other.

"We are going to catch this freak," Morgan said suddenly. Garcia could tell from his tone of voice that he was determined to make this UnSub pay for the threats he had put against them.

"I love it when you get all hot and bothered like that," she said, injecting a bit of her usual happiness into the grim feeling of the room. It was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that he didn't even crack a smile.

"And I love it when I see those fancy fingers of yours flying a mile a minute over those keyboards you've got, so let's get back to work. Check anything you can think of. Let's just get some work done here," Morgan said slowly, almost...pleadingly?

The tone of his voice nearly cracked her heart in two. She thought about telling him that she had already double checked anything she thought could even be remotely necessary, and she put an alert on all of the searches she was running so she would know immediately if anything came up, but decided against it. She knew that he always felt better if he was doing something, and decided to humor him and turn around to face her monitors as he picked up some of the papers he had brought, spreading them out on the table in front of him.

"We will catch him," she said softly, both for her benefit as well as Morgan's.

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><p>At four thirty, they picked up their things, Morgan collecting his papers and Garcia picking up her laptop, and they headed to the Conference room. As they entered and sat down at the table in the center, Hotch looked over at her with a look that clearly said, "Anything?"<p>

She morosely shook her head. She watched as Hotch's expression hardened, and could tell that he was getting angrier almost by the minute. She picked up her laptop, powering it up and intending to find something so that she could ease her boss's mind. But she found it extremely difficult to concentrate.

Her revelation from before was still holding true, she wasn't afraid of the letters that would soon be arriving for her team. She was just anxious to get it over with. But her anxiety was hindering her concentration, as she could tell was happening with the rest of the team. It was barely four forty-five, and already most of the working in the Conference room had stopped entirely.

Finding nothing left to do on her laptop, Garcia reluctantly closed it again, resigning herself to just simply waiting.

So she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

As six thirty came and went, and then seven o'clock, she couldn't help but feel little rays of hope begin to sprout. Maybe there weren't any more letters to come? Maybe she wasn't important enough to be targeted, she very rarely traveled with the team anyways. She might not have to watch her friends faces hold fear and frustration again.

Finally, at seven thirty, Hotch broke the tense silence by telling them to go and take a fifteen minute break, and that they would regroup after to talk about the significance of the missing letters. Garcia could tell that each of the team members was slightly relieved as they stood up, each walking off to go to the break room, or their respective offices.

"You coming?" Prentiss asked her, pausing in the doorway.

"Yeah, just a minute. I want to go put my laptop back in my office quick," she assured her.

"Okay," the brunette said, quickly walking off after her teammates. Garcia couldn't help but smile to herself. '_Maybe this UnSub is done threatening us now_' she thought as she walked down the hall towards her office. She quickly opened the door and plugged her laptop back in, then turned to exit, but before she could something caught her eye. There was something laying on her keyboard.

She curiously walked over to it, not remembering leaving anything there. What she saw nearly made her heart stop.

It was an envelope, plainly marked 'Penelope Garcia', identical to the ones she had received six times previously. Her hands were shaking so badly that she almost couldn't pick it up and open it. As she slit it open, she couldn't help but feel a strong sense of fear. If her team had all received a letter and she hadn't, as per usual, she wouldn't be this freaked out. But this time it was one solitary letter. And worse yet, it was left for her in her office, which she kept locked at all times.

What she pulled out of the envelope surprised her. This time it was six pictures, and one note. The pictures weren't of a gruesome body this time, although she would very much prefer that it would have been.

She held in her hands six pictures of six different living rooms. **The living rooms of her friends. **And the pictures were very clearly taken from inside. Garcia suddenly felt very faint. He was in their houses. The UnSub had been in all their houses. She forced herself to tear her eyes away from the pictures so that she could read the note. It was much longer than all of the others they had received.

_Hello Penelope,_

_ Surprise! I thought I'd shake things up a little. I've become impatient, so I figured that it's time I uncover my master plan. You see, it's you I want. Yes, I threatened your entire team, but that's mostly just because it's fun to watch them squirm. I don't really care about them. I care about you. You are the reason that he was taken from me. So I plan to take you away from them. _

_ Now, as soon as you get this letter, you are to leave the BAU and turn to the left. Walk down the street and turn to the first alley you come to. Then I can finally meet you, face to face. And don't bring anyone with you, and don't let anyone know where you're going. _

_ And if you're thinking about skipping out on our little meeting, or bringing one of your little teammates, or a whole slew of police officers, I would suggest that you don't. As you know from those pictures that I so gladly sent you, I could pay one of your teammates a visit later, if I wanted. And I can tell you, they won't come off of that meeting looking too good. In fact, they most likely wouldn't come off alive. _

_ So Penelope, come and meet me, alone, and tell nobody about this, or else your team is as good as dead. _

_ -UnSub_

Her heart was going to explode. Her lungs were going to burn out. Her mind was whizzing with the new information she had just gotten. What should she do?

She could run to Hotch immediately, show him the letter, skip out on the meeting. But then the UnSub would attack one of her friends. Her mind feebly suggested that they could have police officers stationed at all their houses, but she immediately dismissed that idea. This UnSub wouldn't care about killing a few police officers.

She couldn't skip out on the meeting, that much she knew. And she couldn't tell anyone about it, they would all try to stop her. '_I Have To Do This'_ she suddenly realized. She couldn't let her team get hurt because she had a homicidal psychopath after her.

"I have to do this," she whispered quietly to herself, attempting to steel herself against the thought of not going. She walked over to a desk and quickly opened up a drawer that held a miniature tracking device in it, about the size and shape of a quarter. She turned it on and pulled up the location map on her computer, then taped the device to the inside of her skirt, hoping against hope that her team would understand.

"I have to do this," she whispered again, trying to fill her mind up with that thought, and only that thought. And she shakily walked out of her office and down the hallway, attempting to calm her breathing so that if she met anyone, she wouldn't seem as upset.

A sudden thought occurred to her as she walked. She would have to pass her entire team to get out. She would pass JJ, Hotch, and Rossi's offices, and she would need to pass through the Bullpen. That was going to make it substantially harder. What if this is the last time she saw them? But she remembered. '_I have to do this.'_

As she drew closer and closer to JJ's office, she came to the conclusion that she wouldn't look inside, see her friend. She needed to keep a level mind. As she walked past, she looked straight ahead determined to keep going...but at the very last second she looked.

JJ was on the phone, looking at a picture of Henry, most likely calling to say goodnight to him. Garcia almost lost it right then. Thinking of Henry, and how she was his fairy god mother. What would happen if she didn't come back? She wanted to be there for him as she grew up, she wanted to spoil him. But then she thought about what would happen if the UnSub got into JJ's home again, what might happen to that happy little baby. Tears began to well in her eyes. So she kept walking. _'I have to do this.'_

As she passed Hotch's office, she had the sudden urge to run in and confess everything to him. But she didn't. '_I have to do this.'_

She passed Rossi's office, seeing him sitting at his desk, calmly writing something. A tear threatened to fall down her cheek, but she impatiently wiped it away. _'I have to do this.'_

She walked down the stairs of the Bullpen, and quickly walked around the edge of the bustling to avoid being spotted by the remaining members of her team, as she was sure that they were all sitting gathered around Reid's desk. She knew that if she looked at any of them, she would probably burst into tears. She made it up to the elevators and pushed the button, praying that she wouldn't be seen by anybody before she could get out. _'I have to do this.'_

Finally, as the elevator doors opened and she stepped on and hit the close doors button, she permitted herself to look up, and take one more look at her teammates. She saw Prentiss, sitting on Reid's desk, managing to laugh at something that had been said. Reid, sitting is his desk chair, a small smile gracing his lips. Her junior G-Man. And she saw Morgan, smirking over at the other two agents. She allowed the tears to roll down her face.

As the elevator doors closed, Morgan looked up. He saw her. He looked into her eyes. She could feel her face start to screw up from the effort it took for her not to break out into sobs. She watched as his face took on the expression of confusion and concern, and she desperately wanted to sprint over to him, her chocolate god, wrap him in a bear hug, and make everything okay again.

But luckily, the elevator doors stopped her. _'I have to do this. I have to do this. I have to do this'_ she thought to herself, over and over. If she didn't, she probably would have stopped the elevator and gone back. But Morgan had seen her. He'd realize that something was wrong. That was a good thing, they would get to her quickly, hopefully. But she would also have to make her escape quickly.

As she elevator doors opened again, she ran as fast as she could out of the building, the cool autumn air hitting her in the face. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself, then as calmly as she could she walked the few hundred yards to the nearest alley, and turned down it. She walked the length of the alley, all the way to where the fence blocked off the end, and realized that no one was there. She made to turn around, but before she could a pair of strong arms grabbed her. She would have screamed, if one of the hands hadn't covered her mouth.

Before she could do much else, she felt a sharp pinch in her neck. She barely had time to register that she was being injected with something, before the world around her went black.

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><p><strong>So, reviews anyone? Like this chapter? Dislike it? Let me know guys! :D Click on the little button! <strong>


	9. Sudden Disappearance

**Alright guys! Here's chapter nine! I'll cut to the chase and let you get reading. Review? Please?**

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><p>Morgan stared bewildered after the elevator that had just closed, hiding his Baby Girl from view. What was wrong? Something was definitely up. Where was she going? And most importantly, why was she crying? Was she in trouble? Was it something to do with the case? A flutter of panic rose in his stomach.<p>

He immediately stood up and sprinted through the Bullpen, jumping over a few chairs and ignoring Prentiss and Reid as they attempted to question him about his actions. He reached the elevator and pummeled the button furiously as his teammates caught up with him.

"Morgan! What-," Prentiss began.

"Somethings up with Garcia!" he said angrily, still pummeling the button.

"Shit!" he cursed loudly, giving up on the elevator and sprinting toward the door that led to the staircase. As he thundered down the stairs, he could hear Reid and Prentiss yelling after him to stop and talk to him about what happened, but he kept running, praying that he could beat the elevator.

As he burst into the main lobby, his eyes immediately shifted towards the elevator. It was open. And empty. "Dammit," he muttered to himself, wildly looking around for the tech analyst.

"Morgan, what's wrong with Garcia?" Reid asked desperately as he caught up, slightly out of breath.

"I don't know, but...There!" he yelled, seeing the corner of Garcia's skirt whip around the corner of the door leading outside. He sprinted through the lobby, which was even harder to maneuver through than the Bullpen. He nearly knocked several people over in his haste, and he could hear his teammates apologizing to everyone behind him.

Once he finally made it through the doors he paused for a fraction of a second, looking around and seeing her skirt whip around a corner into an alleyway. The question of why she was going into an alley ran through his mind, but he quickly dismissed it, preferring instead to think first and foremost about simply getting to her first.

But before he could move an inch, something came crashing down on the back of his head, sending him to the ground. The blow wasn't hard enough to knock him out, but it did leave him seeing stars. He distantly heard both Reid and Prentiss screaming at whoever it was that hit him. He also heard something heavy hit the ground, and the click of handcuffs.

As his vision cleared a bit, he looked up at the person Prentiss was escorting back into the building. It was...the Delivery man?

"The hell?" he muttered, nursing his throbbing head.

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><p>Morgan glared through the glass, grinding his teeth angrily, willing the small man sitting at the table in the interrogation room to drop dead. <em>'If only looks could kill'<em> he thought to himself.

He was watching Rossi grill the Delivery man, whose name was Daniel Jacobs, about his sudden desire to attack Morgan, and how it happened to be just as a federal agent disappeared from the building. He was trying to tell them that he was so relieved that he hadn't had to deliver any letters to them that he wanted to stop in and tell them the good news, but Morgan's sudden presence outside the building startled him so much that the first thing he could think to do was slam his heavy delivery bad down on his head. Bullshit, in Morgan's opinion.

He turned away from the window towards Reid, who was standing next to him, and said, "You're sure you checked that alley completely, right?"

"Yes, Morgan, for the fourth time, I'm sure," Reid said impatiently. "The only thing I found was that one bracelet of Garcia's."

"Do you think it fell off when she struggled with him?" Morgan asked the genius, trying to block the metal image of Garcia struggling with anyone out of his mind. He could tell that they were both thinking the same thing. She must have met the UnSub.

"No. This UnSub is too neat and organized for that. He left it on purpose. He wanted us to know that she was there, and that he got her," Reid said, looking concernedly at Morgan. Which was a good thing, as another surge of white hot anger ran through him as he took in the genius's words. He nearly punched the glass in front of him.

"When I meet him, that son-of-a-bitch is going down. Hard," Morgan muttered. "And I know he had something to do with this too," he added, nodding towards the window leading into the interrogation room.

"Who would believe that idiotic story? 'He startled me so much that my reaction was to hit him over the head with my bag', honestly. I hope Rossi cracks him wide open," JJ said scathingly.

They watched the interrogation for a few more minutes, before Prentiss suddenly said, "Guys, did any of us check Garcia's office? She said she was going to go put her laptop away, maybe something there upset her!"

Before she had even finished speaking, Morgan had torn out of the little observation area and down the hall towards the office, Prentiss, Reid, and JJ abandoning the interrogation to race after him. The second he reached her office he wrenched the door open, and knew immediately that something was up with her office. She always kept her door locked when she wasn't there. Always.

He noticed a few things that were amiss about her office all at once. There was a drawer open in one of the desks that sat in her office, there were a few pieces of paper randomly laying next to her keyboard, and he noticed that she had left her purse there. He ran over to the drawer first, and saw that it was the one where she kept her fancy tech gadgets. _'Strange,'_ he thought.

He then walked over and picked up the papers from the table, and nearly dropped them in surprise. He was staring at a picture of his own living room. And the next picture was of Reid's, the next JJ's. He shuffled through them all, recognizing each of his teammates homes. He felt a strange mix of feelings, from confusion to foreboding to slight panic.

Next was an opened envelope. Clearly labeled 'Penelope Garcia'.

"Guys!" he said loudly, catching their attention. "She got a letter." He watched all of their faces take on first the expression of surprise, then understanding, then fear. He handed JJ the pictures to look at, then pulled the folded piece of paper out of the envelope. As he read the note, he could feel Reid over his shoulder reading too. And they both confirmed their suspicions. She had given herself up for their safety.

"Oh my god..." he heard Reid groan. Morgan then understood the meaning of the pictures. He had been inside all of their homes, and taken pictures to threaten Garcia with. Before he knew what he was doing, he found himself running down the hall toward the Bullpen. As soon as the got there, he flung Hotch's door open, ignoring the expression of surprise on his boss's face. Morgan stormed up to him and shoved the note still clutched in his hand in front of his face.

As Hotch took it from him and began reading, Morgan couldn't help but start shaking from suppressed anger, and although he wouldn't admit it, terror. He had seen what that UnSub had done to those other people that had found themselves kidnapped, and he was terrified of what would happen to his Baby Girl.

"What pictures did the UnSub send?" Hotch asked, and Morgan could tell that he was barely keeping his voice in check from the anger he was too feeling.

"Pictures taken from inside all of our houses," Morgan admitted, suddenly feeling panic. That creep had been inside his house.

"Jack!" Hotch said, snatching up his phone and quickly dialing a number to contact his sister-in-law and inform them to get out of there. Morgan knew that JJ would be doing the same and warning Will to get Henry and get out. While Hotch was on the phone, Morgan started pacing back and forth, trying to come up with a way that they could find that creep before he laid a hand on Garcia, coming up with next to nothing. He was about to leave the office and go and start interrogating Daniel Jacobs himself, and force the little man to tell him everything he knew by any means possible, when Reid burst into the office.

"I know where Garcia is!" he said loudly, his eyes wide. "She left a map from a tracking device up on one of her monitors, and I realized that she took a tracking device out of the drawer and took it with her before she left!"

"Let's go!" Hotch shouted, now off the phone and running from his office, Morgan and Hotch at his heels. Morgan suddenly felt a new emotion, hope. Maybe they would be able to find her before-

No. She was going to be just fine. She was stronger than they gave her credit for. Right?

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><p><strong>Alright, I just wanted to make a chapter from the POV of the team, mainly Morgan, realizing that she was gone and everything. I know you're upset with me that I didn't clear up anything about Garcia, but I promise to update with something about her soon! :D<strong>

**So, reviews? Yes? The review button will go hungry if you don't click on it!**


	10. Revelations

**Alright guys, chapter ten! :) Here we go, hope I did this chapter justice!**

**Also, reviews would be much appreciated! There's no way I'm gonna get better if you don't tell me about what you think! So please? :D**

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><p>Her neck was throbbing with pain. That's the first thing that Garcia realized as she slowly regained consciousness. Come to think of it, her entire body ached. Especially her head. And her arms. They were at an extremely odd angle behind her back, but why couldn't she move them? And who were those angry voices in the background? Why were they yelling? She wished they would just shut up.<p>

Suddenly, Garcia remembered. Where she must be. Who those voices must belong to. She snapped her eyes open to look around at her surroundings, and immediately wished that she hadn't.

She was surrounded by the bodies, the bodies they had received pictures of. They were laying out in a large circle, she assumed, because she couldn't see the ones behind her, her arms being bound so tightly around what she assumed to be a wooden support beam. She was, of course, facing the most horribly maimed one of all. And it looked like this was the room where the pictures were taken, solid concrete floors and walls.

Suddenly, her sense of smell seemed to come back to life. She nearly threw up. Six dead bodies sitting in an enclosed room in varying levels of decomposition did not make for a nice scent. She closed her eyes again and leaned her head against the post, willing herself to breathe through her mouth so as not to take in that horrid stench, when suddenly a little voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Reid said, '_Smell is the weakest sense, if you keep breathing through your nose like normal it will go away.'_

And sure enough, after just a few more seconds of breathing through her nose, she could tell that the stench was becoming less and less prominent. She made a mental note to thank Reid next time she saw him. Just as she was getting a grip on keeping her dinner down, a particularly loud shout came from the room next to where she currently was. She whipped her head around, her head and neck making her pay for the action, but she ignored the sudden flare of pain and focused herself on listening to the argument.

"No!" a rough male voice yelled. "How many times did I tell you that we shouldn't bring that idiot into this?"

"He's not an idiot!" a different, female voice answered. "And I didn't expect him to go and get himself caught!"

"Well, he's probably going to go blabbing to those FBI agents now. And he'll sell us out and get us caught too. I foresaw this, I swear I did!" he male voice responded.

"He...he won't go blabbing," the female said uncertainly. "He's too loyal to me to get us caught."

"He may be your boyfriend Jenna, but he's a coward! He probably panicked and attacked that, that Agent Morgan as soon as he saw him, and then just totally froze. Those other Agents...that brunette and that smart kid, they had no trouble with arresting him. Yeah, he did a real good job of stopping anyone from following her down to that alley!"

"Well, he won't tell on us. I know him, he would never give me up," the person named Jenna said.

"Oh come on!" the unnamed man practically screamed. "They're going to know that their special Tech Analyst is gone by now, and they're smart enough to know that Daniel had something more to do with it than just delivering the letters, any idiot would. And they'll force it out of him!"

"Well, we needed a way to know that they received our letters, and he's a delivery man! It was perfect! They didn't suspect that he had anything to do with it!" Jenna countered back.

"Yeah, until now!"

Garcia's head was reeling. The delivery man was in on it? And he attacked Morgan? If what this man was saying was true, then Prentiss and Reid arrested him, and someone was probably interrogating him right now. And if he really was a coward, then they would break him. And they would find her. She allowed a small bit of hope to grow in her. Maybe she would live through this.

Her thoughts were suddenly broken by the door in the corner of the room slamming open and a woman with light brown hair walking through it towards her. Jenna. She was followed by a taller man with the same colored hair. The unnamed man. Garcia distantly thought about the fact that they were probably related, as they looked quite alike.

"Oh look, you are awake," this Jenna sneered at her. "Time for our fun to begin."

Mustering up her inner profiler, Garcia said, "Why are you doing this?" with as much venom as she could.

"Ooh, getting a little bit feisty, are we? I love the feisty ones, they're just so much more fun to play with," the man said. Garcia noticed the gleam in his eyes as he said this, as well as the gleam that was coming off of the large knife he was holding. Not good.

"For revenge, Miss Garcia. You see, a few years back, we used to be a happy family. And then you came along and just had to ruin it all. You took our brother from us. And now, we plan to take you away from your makeshift family. If you can even call that messed up bunch of misfits a family," Jenna said scathingly.

Ignoring the surge of anger that rose up in her at the insult, she asked,"How did you find out all that stuff about my team?"

"Oh, well it turns out, having some connections from when I was in law school, turned out to be a pretty useful thing," she said, a smirk on her face. Garcia wanted to slap it off.

"And why was all of this even necessary? Why did these people need to die if you wanted me?"

"Because, it was just so fun to play with you all. See your reactions. And I wanted you to know what I was capable of," Jenna replied.

From what she could tell so far, Jenna seemed to be the dominant one. She was doing most of the talking. And she had gone to law school, dropped out probably. So what was with the man standing up to her in that argument? A sign that she was becoming slightly unraveled, hopefully.

"And, as I said before, it was fun to watch you squirm," she added as an afterthought.

But as she said the word 'squirm', Garcia felt a sharp pain on her right arm. Looking over, she saw the still unnamed man, knife held up against her arm. She hissed in pain as he drew it slowly across, drawing blood from her.

"Who was he?" Garcia asked, gritting her teeth and staring directly at the menacing woman in front of her. "Your beloved brother?"

"I'm surprised that you don't already know that. You've met him before, you know," came the teasing response.

A thought came to Garcia's mind at the woman's words. But no... it couldn't be...could it?

"If you're really that stumped, I'll give you one more hint. His name is Jason, but you might know him better as James," Jenna said slowly, walking around the room, stepping over each of the corpses in turn.

But Garcia wasn't paying much attention to where she was walking. Her mind had exploded with memories, of helping a handsome faced man fix his computer in a coffee shop, going out to dinner in a fancy restaurant and sitting in a corner table, being dropped off back at her apartment building and turning around to face the barrel of a gun, and the sudden intense pain in her abdomen, a blurry face looming above hers as she lay bleeding out on the steps...

Jason Clark Battle's family seemed to have come back for their revenge.

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><p><strong>So, whadya think? Review worthy, maybe? Yeah?<strong>

**Oh and yes, that thing about smell being the weakest sense is a quote that Reid said in an actual episode. I kinda borrowed it because I thought it would fit in nicely here.  
><strong>


	11. Penelope

**I. Am. So. Sorry. It's been so long since I updated, like a week! And I left it on a cliffhanger too! Oh guys, I feel so bad for making you wait! Sorry! **

**Well, here's chapter 11 anyway! I did want to make sure I did this chapter justice though, seeing as it's probably the most important one so far, so I'll use that as my excuse. **

**Reviews? Yeah? I think it would be a good idea, you should definitely do that. Tell me what you think!  
><strong>

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><p>Flying down the highway at ninety miles an hour was a long procession of cars with each of their sirens blaring. In the lead were two black SUV's, followed by a dozen cop cars, a vehicle holding a SWAT team, and an ambulance.<p>

In the first black SUV, Morgan was clutching so hard to the steering wheel that his knuckles were turning white. If Reid had been correct in his guess that Garcia had put a small tracking device on herself before walking out of the BAU, then they were currently speeding towards her. The map on the GPS said that she was at an address in Virginia, about forty-five minutes from Quantico.

Morgan shot a nervous glance at JJ, who was seated next to him, and then caught Reid's eye in the rear-view mirror. None of them had said a word since they had stepped, or more like sprinted, into the car a few minutes previously. Morgan could see the other black SUV edging up next to his own, knowing that Hotch was driving it, and that a similar tense silence was occurring in that vehicle as well.

Unwelcome thoughts flashed across Morgan's mind, the image of Garcia tied up somewhere, being in the company of a homicidal psychopath, probably afraid and in pain...

He pushed down even harder on the gas pedal.

When suddenly, "I know who the UnSub is," Reid said into the silence, his voice sounding oddly distant.

"Wha- Who is it?" JJ asked loudly, the polar opposite of Reid's voice. While his was calm and depressed, her's was excited and frantic.

"Don't you remember what the note said?" Reid said. "_You see, it's you I want. Yes, I threatened your entire team, but that's mostly just because it's fun to watch them squirm. I don't really care about them. I care about you. You are the reason he was taken from me. So I plan to take you away from them,"_ Reid rattled off.

"So, that means that it was probably a case that Garcia had an impact on," Morgan said, beginning to put a few of the puzzle pieces together in his head.

"But, Garcia's found us the UnSub dozens of times from the databases on her computers! It could be one of several cases," JJ said.

"Well, don't you remember one particular case, a few years ago, that had quite a bit to do with her?" Reid asked them both.

A few years ago...quite a bit to do with Garcia...Morgan's head was buzzing through cases when suddenly the answer to Reid's question presented itself to him. It was so painfully obvious that Morgan was amazed with himself that he hadn't realized it sooner.

"Battle," he spat out. He saw JJ's eyes widen in surprise.

"But...isn't that the UnSub that shot Garcia? The one who showed up in the BAU and I...I shot...and killed?" JJ asked quietly.

"JJ, it's not your fault!" Morgan said quickly, immediately understanding what she was thinking.

"But... If I hadn't killed him then his psychopathic family wouldn't be after her! If I would have only shot and injured him instead of killing him, this wouldn't have happened!" she argued.

"JJ, if I remember correctly, and I know I do, Battle had a gun to a man's head," Reid stated. "And it wasn't just any man, it was an FBI agent. If you hadn't killed Battle, they would be dead by now. You did the right thing. It's not your fault."

"And even if you had only wounded him, he would've been arrested and sent to prison. And in this psychopath's mind, that would be taking him away too. So it would be the same situation anyway. It's not your fault," Morgan said firmly, seeing that JJ's expression didn't look as guilty anymore.

Morgan suddenly realized that he had allowed the SUV to slow down considerably,m and that other SUV was pulled up next to theirs. Internally cursing for allowing himself to waste time like that, stepped down hard on the gas pedal.

"Reid," he said, catching the attention of the young genius as the car sped back up, "Call Rossi and see if they've come to the same conclusion that we have about Battle's family member being the UnSub."

As Reid pulled out his phone, Morgan glanced over at the GPS. It said they were still twenty minutes from the tracking device, and hopefully his Baby Girl. He sent out a mental prayer to her, willing her to stay strong until he was there, pressing down even harder on the gas pedal again.

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><p>Garcia glared at the backs of her retreating captors as they walked out the door, blinking back the tears that had begun to form in her eyes, and hating the two siblings with every fiber of her being. She had no idea why they were suddenly leaving the room, but she was exceptionally grateful that they were gone. It meant a great break from the pain.<p>

She stared down at what she could see of her arms and legs, noticing the outlines of bruises that were already forming, and the cuts that littered her limbs and torso. None of them were very deep, most of them were merely like a paper cut, save for a few on her arms and thighs. Those were the ones causing her to become sticky with her blood. One of them had been placed uncomfortably close to the tracking device she had hidden, and all she could do was hope that it wouldn't become saturated with blood and malfunction.

She attempted to take her mind off of the pain she was feeling by working on trying to free her wrists from her restraints, but she quickly gave up. Her wrists were already sore and raw from her previously fruitless attempts at freedom.

Garcia slumped back up against the post she was sitting up against. She closed her eyes and momentarily allowed her tears to fall for the first time since she had been abducted, before her attention was caught by some more loud talking from the next room.

"We can't take all night with this, Justin! Weren't you the one who said that Daniel would probably squeal on us?" the woman named Jenna asked, to who Garcia thought must be the unnamed man.

"But, I changed my mind!" this Justin answered. "I don't think that he will squeal on us after all! He's smart enough to know to shut up."

"You idiot, you're just saying that because you've started working with her and you want to drag it out! I know that he wouldn't squeal on us, but he's not the brightest bulb, he might inadvertently say something that could lead them back to us. I say we just end it right now and get out," Jenna said nervously.

"No! You're just getting paranoid! We'll be fine!" came the argument.

"Look. I know you want to carve her up like you did that girl yesterday, and I admit there's nothing I'd like more than to see that happen, but we can't afford to get caught! Do you want to spend the rest of your life in prison? Because I don't!" Jenna shouted.

There was a moment of silence before Justin said, "No, but..."

"But what? We're going to finish her off and leave. End of discussion," Jenna replied firmly.

"Fine," he halfheartedly agreed.

Garcia realized that her previous suspicions were correct, it was obvious that Jenna was the dominant personality in their relationship. She was the brains, and he was the brawn. She was probably the one who engineered the whole thing, she just used him to abduct the victims, and torture and kill them.

She heard the door in the corner creak open again, and her heart started racing. They were going to 'finish her off'. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Well Blondie, looks like you're going to get off easy," Jenna sneered at her. "You're team actually did manage to hinder our plans a little, so we're just going to kill you now and get it over with so we can... disappear."

Garcia felt another spark of anger, and she said forcefully, "You could never disappear, my team would find you."

"Oh really?" Jenna asked as she gave a derisive laugh. "We've got some pretty good hiding spots, I think it would be safe to say that we would avoid capture."

Garcia suddenly felt the bonds that were holding her arms back loosed and rough hands grab her. Turning her head, she saw that Justin was now holding her hands tightly behind her back. And for the first time, she noticed the gun that Jenna was holding in her right hand. Her heart skipped a few beats as she was forced to stand for the first time in hours, the cuts on her legs making them exceptionally wobbly.

Jenna walked forward so she was mere feet in front of her and said, "You know, you really should thank your team. They saved you a great deal of pain and humiliation. Unfortunate, really. We were both eager to see that." Garcia could feel Justin nod his head energetically behind her.

"Screw you," Garcia spat at her captors.

"Oh, that won't be necessary," Jenna said, a smug smile gracing her lips. She swung her arm around so that the gun was pointing straight at her forehead. Garcia's eyes crossed as she looked down the barrel of the gun that was uncomfortably close to her face. "Say goodbye, Penelope Garcia."

The click of the safety on the gun being released was probably the loudest sound she had ever heard.

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><p><strong>So. Awful cliffhanger right? Yeah, I know. But anyway...Review! Please? *insert puppy face* Reviews make me happy! <strong>

**And I apologize again for the long wait. Sorry!**


	12. Lucky

**Oh wow guys! Here it is, the finale! I hope you enjoy it! **

**Also, I'm thinking about making one more chapter as an epilogue, having Garcia return to the BAU and talking to the team about all that happened and such. If you would like to see this happen, I suggest that you review and tell me so, because I'm not 100% sure I want to. **

**So review, tell me how the ending is, and if you'd like to see the epilogue! :D**

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><p>Garcia closed her eyes so she didn't have to look down the barrel of the gun in her face, although she could still see it as though it were imprinted on her eyelids. She could still hear the sound of the safety being released on the gun, as though it were echoing through her mind. She stood stock still, only hearing the sound of her erratic breathing and the echoing noise in her mind.<p>

Or...was that echo real? Was there something else making that noise? She opened her eyes and was greeted with a welcome sight, the barrel of the gun was no longer directly in her face. Instead it had moved a couple inches off to the left. The reason for that being that Jenna was no longer looking at her with that annoying smirk on her face. She was now looking up at the ceiling with a much more anxious look.

Garcia finally realized that the sound wasn't her mind playing tricks on her, it was actually there. And it sounded a whole lot like footsteps. At least twenty people had to be running around above her.

Many emotions flooded through her at that, joy and relief being among them. Her team was there, that must be them upstairs, it would explain the anxiety that Jenna was showing. And now that she was thinking about it, she could feel Justin tense up behind her too. Something that they didn't like was definitely going on, and that almost made her laugh aloud. Her team was going to save her. This would all be over. Though she couldn't help but let the thought that it would take her team much longer to find her then it would for Jenna to pull the trigger flash across her mind.

Garcia suddenly decided to take the opportunity of her captors being distracted. She swung her foot back, and she felt the heel of the high heeled shoe she was amazingly still wearing connect solidly with her target. Justin's crotch. He immediately released her and fell to the ground behind her.

Jenna immediately whipped her head around to Garcia, first taking in the fact that Justin was on the ground, and then that Garcia was standing free of his grasp. But before she could react in any way, Garcia swung her foot forwards and knocked the back of her legs, sending her crashing to the ground as well. Upon impact, she lost her grip on the gun and it slid across the floor, Garcia frantically chasing after it.

Once she caught up with it, she picked it up and spun around to face the siblings again. The gun felt very foreign and awkward in her hands. She nervously pointed it towards Jenna, praying that she wouldn't have to try and shoot anyone, and that the footsteps that were still thundering overhead would come down and find her soon.

Her attention was focused on Jenna, however, as she picked herself up from the ground, staring directly at Garcia with probably the most menacing look she had so far seen her wear. "You..." Jenna said, in a voice that completely matched the expression on her face. It seemed like she was enraged beyond the point of speaking. Garcia now saw, for the first time, the true psychopath that had arranged the whole thing.

She thankfully heard footsteps that sounded like they were thundering down the stairs, still praying that her team would arrive before Jenna decided to attack. But as she looked over at the woman standing opposite her, she felt a sinking feeling. Jenna looked about ready to throw herself her way.

To make things worse, Jenna pulled the knife that her brother had been previously using seemingly out of think air. Garcia made eye contact with her, and for a few brief seconds they stood staring at each other. Then, several things happened in quick succession.

First, Jenna let loose a loud cry of unmistakeable rage and sprinted towards Garcia, wildly waving the knife through the air. So Garcia did the first thing that came to her mind. She closed her eyes, raised the gun, and pulled the trigger. And just seconds before the loud bang came from the gun in her hands, a different loud bang came from the corner of the room.

Opening her eyes slightly, Garcia saw Jenna crumpled on the ground a few feet in front of her. As she stared at the figure lying a few feet away, she was surprised to see that Jenna was still moving. In fact, she was slowly getting to her feet, a large red blotch forming on the abdomen of her shirt. Jenna began staggering towards her again, and just as Garcia was preparing herself to have to shoot again, Jenna was hit by a different bullet.

Whirling around, Garcia saw Morgan standing just past the doorway, gun raised and a defiant expression on his face. Just as she was about to race over towards him, another shot echoed through the room, and she heard a thump come from behind her. Turning back around, she saw Justin slumped on the ground next to his sister, laying over one of the previously murdered bodies. He clearly had caught the bullet shot at him between the eyes.

Tearing her eyes away from him, she now saw Hotch standing next to Morgan, in nearly the same stance, even the same facial expression. As she watched, the rest of her team came into view from the door. Each of them had identical looks of relief replace the ones of fear as they laid eyes on her and realized she was alright.

She slowly walked over to them, the cuts on her right leg paining her a bit and leaving her with a slight limp. When she reached her team she immediately threw her arms around Morgan. She allowed a few more tears to fall, letting them mix with the ones already on her face. She gave each of her friends a hug in turn, and she could even feel Hotch's relief as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Baby Girl. Are you alright?" Morgan asked, embracing her again. She nodded, wiping some of the wetness from her cheeks.

"Yeah," she choked out. "Nothing worse than cuts and bruises."

"Alright, let's get you out of here," he said, gently leading her out of the room. She gave her teammates a watery smile as she passed.

As she entered the other room, she passed what seemed like dozens of other police men, FBI agents, and SWAT team members. It made her head spin to see that number of people there to save her. She slowly made her way up the stairs, following Morgan's lead. She now felt exceptionally sleepy, the stress from that day's events completely tiring her out. She didn't take in much more of her surroundings until they stepped outside.

The crisp, cool air felt fantastic on her face after being locked in a stuffy basement for hours. But it was mostly the smell that put a smile on her face. It smelled _good. _She smelled the leaves and the grass, a very welcome smell after being subjected to the smell of decomposition.

Morgan led her over to an ambulance on the front lawn of the house she stepped out of. From what she could see in the darkness, she had been in a normal looking house on a normal looking street. A few of the people who lived in the neighboring houses were out on their front lawns in bathrobes and slippers, gawking at her as she was put in the ambulance.

She laid back on the stretcher, feeling the tiredness threaten to overwhelm her again. Morgan had thankfully climbed in after her and was sitting by her side. She wanted to stay awake, to talk to him and ask him how they found her, if they had realized what she had done to aid them, but her eyes began to droop slightly.

"You're tired," Morgan stated.

"I'm fine. I want to talk to you," she said sleepily.

"No. You go to sleep. You've had an awful, terrible day. Get some rest now, we can talk when you wake up," he told her.

"Will you stay?" Garcia asked him. She felt like she would be able to sleep better if she knew that he was there with her.

"Of course. I'm not going anywhere," he responded. "Just go to sleep. You can relax now. It's over."

She smiled slightly as he reached out and started gently stroking her hair, urging her to allow sleep to overcome her. He was right. She was safe now.

"Go to sleep," he said gently again, and this time she listened to him.

Just as she was drifting into unconsciousness, she felt Morgan lean over her and kiss her forehead. "I love you, Baby Girl," he whispered softly. She smiled slightly again, grabbing his hand and holding it in hers, allowing herself to drift off to a peaceful sleep.

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><p><strong>Did I do good? Do you want to see the epilogue chapter? Click on that button and tell me! <strong>


	13. Epilogue

**Alright. Here's the very last chapter! The epilogue! I'm sad to see this story go! Hope all of you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! :)**

**Plus, I'm going to be posting one more chapter after this as a thank you to all of the people who reviewed, favorited, story alerted, etc. Just so you guys know that it's not another chapter, I don't want to get you all excited for nothing. I just really wanted to thank all of you! :D**

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><p>As Garcia walked into the bullpen, she allowed a smile to grace her lips. It was the first time she had been back in three weeks, since the whole ordeal with the Battle siblings. Being back was bringing a few of the painful memories for her, but they were diminished slightly because Garcia was too happy to be back. Walking past the alleyway and stepping on the elevator had been especially difficult, but the thought of being back with her friends kept her going.<p>

It wasn't like she hadn't seen her friends at all in the three weeks she took off for recuperation. They had all dropped by her house one night a week into her leave, and Morgan dropped by every night after he left the federal building, when he wasn't on a case. But this was the first time she would be back with them at work, seeing them all day, and she couldn't have been more excited.

She scanned the Bullpen, seeing them once again gathered around Reid's desk. Her smile grew even bigger as she made her way over to them.

"Hello all," she said once she reached them. "Your technical goddess of information is back and ready to make all your lives ten times easier, not to mention happier and much more fun."

"Garcia!" Morgan exclaimed. "You're not supposed to be back for another week!"

"I know, but I just missed you guys way too much. And anyways, it's starting to get a little bit tedious at my place. All day long, nothing to do. I'd much prefer to be here," Garcia said.

"Are you sure you're ready to be back?" Reid asked. "I should know, it's important that you take enough time."

"Very sure. I've come to terms with what happened, and I'm ready to be back and brightening your lives again," she responded.

"Well, it's good to have you back PG. You don't know how hard things were without you," Prentiss said.

"It was an absolute nightmare. We had to use a different technical analyst who just didn't help things at all. They took three times as long as you to find the information we needed," Morgan groaned.

"Aww. And that's why you all love me," Garcia said, smirking slightly. "Now, before I sit down and talk to you all, I have to go inform Hotch of my return," she said, dumping her coat and bag on Prentiss's desk and heading for their team leader's office.

"Don't be gone too long!" Morgan yelled after her.

"Oh, I won't be," she assured him as she walked up the stairs and pushed open the door to Hotch's office.

"Garcia. What are you doing back? I gave you another week off," he questioned, a look of mild surprise on her face.

"I've decided that I'm ready to come back to work, Sir. I've had enough recuperation time. And anyways, it would be better for me to have something to do," she explained again.

"Alright, well if you're feeling up to it, I have some things I need to ask you about what happened three weeks ago," Hotch asked. Garcia knew he was willing to wait to ask her these questions, but she knew from experience that it would be best to get it done now.

"Sure," she said, sitting down in the chair in front of his desk, feeling slightly nervous.

"Alright," he said gently. "First of all, what exactly happened when you walked into your office and found that note?"

Garcia thought back to that moment, closing her eyes and concentrating on remembering the details.

"I walked into my office and plugged my laptop back in. I was just about to turn around and walk out when I noticed something laying on my keyboard. I didn't remember leaving anything there, so I walked over to it and realized what it was," she said slowly. "And then after reading it, I realized what I had to do. So I took a tracking device and placed it on my person, pulled the map up on the computer screen, and I snuck out."

"And why didn't you come to any of us? Why did you just give in to the UnSub's demands like that?" Hotch asked her.

"You saw what was in the letter didn't you? That freak had been inside all of your houses! They could have murdered all of you in your sleep!" she said loudly.

"We could have gotten policemen stationed around our homes-" Hotch began, before Garcia cut him off.

"And you think that would have mattered? Jenna was a pure psychopath, as twisted as they come. She would have just blasted through them to get to all of you! I was protecting my family," she said fiercely, glaring at Hotch.

Hotch looked at her for a long moment, Garcia never breaking eye contact or dropping the fierce gaze. "Alright," he said. "As honorable as your actions were, they were still wrong. You very well could have been killed, so I'm supposed to give you a warning not to do anything like that again."

"Trust me, I'm not going to be getting into any more life or death situations anytime soon," Garcia said. "I've had enough of that for my lifetime."

"Good. Now, we can assume that once you entered the alleyway, you were attacked and drugged, is that correct?" Hotch asked her.

"Yeah," she said quietly, more memories coming back to her. "Sir, can I ask you something?" she asked suddenly.

"Certainly," Hotch replied, a bit surprised.

"When I was... there, I asked Jenna how she knew all that stuff about us, and she said that she had some contacts from law school..." she let the question trail off.

"Ah, yes. Jenna Battle had attended law school for about three months before she was kicked out. The teachers knew there was something off about her, but she did manage to make a few friends in her short career, one being very knowledgeable in the BAU's work," he said.

"Good. I just really didn't want to imagine that she was actually a lawyer," Garcia admitted.

After fifteen more minutes, she had told Hotch everything she could remember about the hours she had spent in the presence of the Battle family. She was feeling admittedly upset again, having dredged up so much in such a short period of time.

"Can I go now, Sir?" she asked Hotch quietly. She knew that he could tell that she was distressed.

"One more thing," he said. "You were very smart to use that tracking device, Penelope. That's how we found you. If we wouldn't have had that, there would have been a much worse ending. It's good to know that I have agents who can think on their feet like that."

He even gave her a rare smile. She was starting to feel better, as Hotch usually didn't compliment them like that. "Thank you, Sir," she said, back to smiling again.

She stood up and made her way back into the Bullpen. JJ and Rossi had both come down from their offices and were now standing with the rest of her team.

"Look who's back," JJ said as she quickly gave Garcia a hug. "It's good to see you back on your feet."

"Here," Rossi said as he handed her a cup filled with orange liquid. "As it's the middle of the workday right now, we can't be using wine, so Reid manage to find us some orange juice. But I propose a toast," he said, smiling in her direction as Hotch came out of his office and joined them, taking a cup of juice for himself.

"To Penelope Garcia," Rossi continued. "Probably the bravest one of us here."

Garcia could feel her eyes start to well up a bit, a slightly watery smile on her face. She may not have been fully recovered yet, but she knew that she would be. With the help the people holding paper cups filled with orange juice, her family, she would be back to herself in no time.

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><p><em>The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each others life. <em>

_-Richard Bach_

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><p><strong>So. There it is. I tried not to make it too sappy. Hope I succeeded. Anyone wants to review that would be great! :D<strong>

**Plus, I'm sorry for spelling or grammar errors. Didn't have a lot of edit time! :/  
><strong>


	14. AN Thank you!

So. This isn't another chapter of the story, and you will all know that if you read the A/N on the last chapter. I wanted to make this chapter to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and even story alerted! If you guys let me know that you liked the story in any way, you will be thanked in this...well I guess I'll call it an Author's Note. (And please forgive me for the over-abundance of smiley faces in this. I'm very happy.)

So here it is!

The lovely people who story alerted:

-Alexia31

-auntomal

-awsome1000

-Carfa

-Cribellate

-CriminalMindsLuver4ever

-DarkSideO'Me

-Elizabeth Perry

-goldfishcrayon

-GremlinX

-harrietamidala1691

-HentaiVixen

-johnym.

-kc1997kc

-Kirbie's1Fan

-Kiyiamayu

-klcm

-milesky1

-Mount Berry Kilimanjaro

-Noraque

-Peanut84

-People-for-Peace

-QuillRiver

-ScaryAnne

-StarDuquesneEMT

-Starrwater

-trahoop

-ValkyrieNyght

-Whitewolf200056

You guys rock!

The amazing people who favorited:

-ChocolateDivineDiva

-Emmy73CriminalMinds

-foxy21

-GremlinX

-kc1997kc

-Kirbie's1Fan

-Laura Beth loves Jesus

-Popgirl95

-SakuraFlame10

-Starrwater

-thequotedgamer

-thesporktheives

-Whitewolf200056

You guys are the best!

And the Totally Awesome (anyone get the AVPM reference?...no? Okay...) people who reviewed!:

-awsome1000

-Carfa

-thesporkthieves

-Emmy73CriminalMinds

-QuillRiver

-BettyTheGreat

-ScaryAnne

-Kirbie's1Fan

-Daisyangel

-Starrwater

-Popgirl95

-Whitewolf200056

-milesky1

-GremlinX

-ValkyrieNyght

-kc1997kc

I love you guys! Reviews are like my favorite thing ever! Thank you so much!

Special thanks:

Firstly, special thanks to kc1997kc, who reviewed this story an amazing total of eleven times. You totally blew my mind with how crazy awesome you are. Eleven times! I can't thank you enough. :D Not to mention the fact that she actually profiled my UnSub...and was exceptionally accurate!

And special thanks also goes out to Emmy73CriminalMinds, who actually advertised this story on her own. I gained many readers from that, and I am so grateful! :D

To all those who appeared on more than one of these lists, thank you so so so much! :D

Those wonderful people who appeared on all three lists...you guys blow my mind too. It's crazy to think that someone could like my story enough for that! You guys make me so happy! You guys deserve an all caps thank you. So... THANK YOU! :D

And if anyone wishes that they not remain on this list for any reason, you can always PM me and request that I remove you, which I will do as soon as possible.

I'll give every single one of you who appear in any of these lists a final great big thank you from the bottom of my heart! (Anyone who reviews, favorites, or alerts after this is posted, know I thank you from the bottom of my heart as well!) Just know that every time I got a message saying that I had a new story alert, or a favorite, and especially review, I got such a big smile on my face. You guys are the greatest, and the reason I keep writing.

Thanks again,

Kirbie


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